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| Peter Frampton in Austin Texas ACL Moody Theater |
Oct 18 2011 – Peter Frampton has had an interesting career so far. He started off in the 70’s with 4 mainly unremarkable albums (at least in terms of commercial success), released a double live album called Frampton Comes Alive! that sold 16 million units and was named album of the year in 1976 by Rolling Stone magazine, released 8 more mostly unmemorable studio albums in the next 30 years and then came back to win a Grammy in 2006. Roller coaster ride to say the least.
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| The Moody Theater |
Frampton is currently on a tour called “Frampton Comes Alive! 35 Tour” in which he plays the entire 78 minute landmark double album end to end. Needless to say that set was longer than 78 minutes thanks to extended riffs and solos. Tonight’s show was in the brand new and gorgeous Moody Theater in downtown Austin, Texas. This is the venue where the PBS TV series “Austin City Limits” is taped. The venue itself is one of the best I have ever seen a concert in, and the sound system was incredible, it has a capacity of about 2700 in a horseshoe configuration consisting of three levels of seating: floor, mezzanine, and balcony. We opted for the general admission floors and had a great view up in front by the side of Frampton. Not bad for a $40 ticket. All the seats were full and the GA floors were about half full. Oddly more people chose to have seats to watch this show instead of being up close on the floors – probably a testament of the demographic of attendees who probably all had Frampton’s mega album back in ’76.
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| Frampton having fun |
The 61 year old Frampton was all smiles and looked remarkably fit on stage. The trademark golden lion mane hair of the 70’s is obviously gone and Frampton now sports a short but tidy white hairstyle. Frampton played for 3 hours this night. There was no doubt that he loves his job and the Texas crowd responded in kind. One light moment in the middle of the show had a male audience member yell out “I love you man” in between songs. Frampton responds “I love you too, in a brotherly way. Maybe we should hook up after the show and exchange notes on things”. The man yells out “WHATEVER”, at which point Frampton loses his composure and starts cracking up. “That is the best heckle I have ever had” claimed the laughing Frampton. Such was the mood of the night, light-hearted good fun. The only slightly serious mark was when Frampton acknowledged the home town in a sacred rock show ritual. Usually statements like “we love this town” or “you people rock” is what is heard in these interludes, however Frampton stated “We love you guys in Texas, we hope the economy gets sorted out, you all get your jobs back, you all get your houses back, we hope your government gets back on track”. The little pep talk almost seemed like sarcasm to me, and Frampton trying to get political didn’t have the same weight for me as performers like Roger Waters or Eddie Vedder. [Ed. Update – Frampton linked this review in his Facebook page after it was posted and seemed offended by my comment above – Peter I am not questioning your sincerity or intentions just pointing out that to me it felt a little out of place for such a fun show unlike the heavy baggage found musically in Pink Floyd or Pearl Jam]
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| Frampton on Facebook |
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| Frampton on Fire! |
Frampton was accompanied by 4 musicians including Stanley Sheldon who was the original bassist on the landmark album “Frampton Comes Alive!” Highlights of the first set included the first time Frampton used his trademarked talkbox for “Show Me The Way”, and the set closer “Do You Feel Like I Do?” – a song that lasted for 16 minutes. After Frampton finished “Frampton Comes Alive!” he took a 20 minute intermission break and then came roaring back with a 9 song second set including a very odd closer – an excellent instrumental version of Soundgarden’s “Black Hole Sun”. The night ended with a single song encore of The Beatles (George Harrison) cover “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”. Audio of the show is available to purchase as a legitimate bootleg (in fact all stops on this tour are available). If that sounds interesting click here to purchase.
Verdict: Excellent show full of energy. Frampton truly is alive 35 years later.
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| Peter Frampton Setlist and Pick from the night |
“political” what the fuck are talking about?
A. The album was not called 'Peter Frampton Comes Alive'. B. The set break was not 20 minutes, but about 3 minutes. I presume they decided to make up time for the late start.
Dude , you might want to stick to video games . And Eddy Veder , really ? Wow
“seemed like sarcasm to me”?? You have a very warped understanding of sarcasm dude!! You are aware that Frampton has been auctioning ALL of his orignal instruments to help victims of the Nashville floods get their homes and jobs back? The man wished everyone well in these tough times – what's wrong with that? Maybe you're bit too cynical??
I guess you had to look really hard for something bad to say . Jerk.
Maybe theres a bit of sarcasm in this story.Frampton continues to help out people in tough times.What have you done lately?
Thanks for the comments everyone:
1) 1st Anonymous – what I mean by 'political' is what google gives you when you put the word in – “Of or relating to the government or the public affairs of a country.” I am sorry if you were at the concert and didn't agree with my opinion that Peter got political at one point. Great show overall though.
2)Joseph – thanks for the correction in album title, I will get rid of the word Peter in the name I had. I dont recall it being 3 minutes but lets just say it was an intermission ;-)
3)Dave G. – Why exactly should I stick to video games? Expand your argument so I can see your point. Any review is an opinion of an editor, and yes my opinion is that those comments seemed out of place to me in what was an excellent and light hearted show. Sorry if you were there and disagree with my perspective. And yes Vedder – go see a Pearl Jam show sometime (or read my review of one)
Anonymous 2 – No I wasn't aware that Peter did that. Kudos to him! I didnt say there was anything wrong with trying to help out people and in fact I applaud that. All I was saying is that the political pep talk seemed out of place to me. Sorry if you were there and didn't agree with my perspective.
Anonymous 3 – It is true that it was very hard to find something bad to say about the show. It was excellent and one of the best I have seen. However I assure you I wasn't looking for something bad to say just for the sake of saying something bad. As sincere as Peter is in his work, I am in mine. Sorry if you disagree with my opinion.
Peter if you read this – I would love a statement to add to the review. I just called it how I saw it as one of the anonymous faces in the crowd.
Sounds like Peter was calling it the way I think many of us see our situation right now! Reality! I guess you haven't been hurt in this economy yet. What world do you live in?
give the author a break, he's just stating his interpretation of Peter's comments and not intending to offend or make light of the economic situation hitting all of us in the US. at least that's the way I read into it. great review!